Volunteer of the Month: December 2013

Every month our Volunteer Office sorts through piles of nominations from supervisors and honors one of our volunteers for their truly stupendous efforts. Meet our latest Volunteer of the Month!

The final Volunteer of the Month award for 2013 goes to the multi-talented Dave McLean of the Rescue and Rehab department!

Here’s what Adam Kennedy had to say about his contribution to the Aquarium community:

Dave has been an awesome addition to the rescue family since he started in November 2011. Dave always comes in with a smile and his energy and charismatic nature is contagious!   

Dave transports a rescued turtle

He's always willing to lend a hand and is critical in helping out with the heavy lifting. One such occasion we required his muscle was with the 2012 live leatherback. Dave had heard about the leatherback incidentally and being from Quincy quickly came to the facility. Dave was extremely helpful to staff in maneuvering the turtle out of the IFAW vehicle and getting the turtle into the facility.  

This large loggerhead was rescued from Cape Cod. Dave helped with its transport 

Dave is certainly not afraid to get dirty. He never hesitates to help out with any task. Whether it is cleaning up our necropsy freezer after a malfunction or assist in cleaning up after we had a sewer back-up. 

With Dave’s mechanical background he has helped us out tremendously with vehicle problems as well as life support pump issues. He is eager to learn new things and help impart his knowledge to new volunteers and interns.  

Dave also looks out for his fellow volunteers. One of our volunteers just left to be a snow bird ☺ and Dave made sure we had a “going away” party for him. He will always be one of the first to bring in articles about the program that he sees in local papers, or make sure that we are up on the goings on in the turtle/ marine mammal world at large. 

Dave has done so much here that I am positive I am missing all kinds of things. For that I would hope you consider Dave for Volunteer of the Month!

Congratulations to Dave!